Cape Flyer

As far as the passenger counts out of Boston this weekend:

Friday - 168, 5 bikes
Saturday - 104, 23 bikes
Sunday - 34, 3 bikes.

Coming back out of Hyannis:

Friday - 5
Saturday - 35, 5 bikes
Sunday - 111, 8 bikes.

D

That totals 457 passengers. Not great, but more than the 350 minimum required to keep the trains profitable. I'm sure the numbers will pick up during and after July 4.

I thing one of the things that may
dissuade some people from coming down
by train during the summer is that
the CCRTA doesn't adjust their schedules
to fit summer traffic flow..The run the same schedule
year round, and the ontime performance after
the early morning buses tends to be abysmal,
particularly on the Hyannis-Orleans run.
Just getting through Yarmouth can sometimes
take a half hour on a bad traffic day.
Especially when it rains..
Another is the 6:30 departure on Sat & Sun..
getting back to Boston at 8:45 PM
might be a little late..Especially if you're with kids
That's where a morning train from down here
might work well..

MickD wrote:I thing one of the things that may
dissuade some people from coming down
by train during the summer is that
the CCRTA doesn't adjust their schedules
to fit summer traffic flow..The run the same schedule
year round, and the ontime performance after
the early morning buses tends to be abysmal,
particularly on the Hyannis-Orleans run.
Just getting through Yarmouth can sometimes
take a half hour on a bad traffic day.
Especially when it rains..
Another is the 6:30 departure on Sat & Sun..
getting back to Boston at 8:45 PM
might be a little late..Especially if you're with kids
That's where a morning train from down here
might work well..

Good points. And it seems that on the 845 PM arrival into Boston, you'd eat dinner either very early or very late.

this getting painful to watch.
as i posted at the start, this will be a failure. rail can never overcome road except in dense geography. and even that is always a battle. commuter rail is way too expensive. unfortunately
we have politics pandering to the low information voters. imagine what would happen if folk had to pay the true cost of mass transit.
anyways. this is a fiscal disaster supported by taxpayers.

i would support making it free.no charge. give those who want to suffer this some offset. ken patrick

I believe the Flyer is doing pretty good right now, if that is what he is talking about. It will for sure do better in the coming weeks, with warmer weather, kids are out of school, families are going on vacation, etc. We can't judge the Flyer until we get to see some numbers in it's peak months. Again, I believe it will get better.

KEN PATRICK wrote:this getting painful to watch.
as i posted at the start, this will be a failure. rail can never overcome road except in dense geography. and even that is always a battle. commuter rail is way too expensive. unfortunately
we have politics pandering to the low information voters. imagine what would happen if folk had to pay the true cost of mass transit.
anyways. this is a fiscal disaster supported by taxpayers.

i would support making it free.no charge. give those who want to suffer this some offset. ken patrick

And you are basing these baseless allegations on what, exactly?

[quote="KEN PATRICK"]this getting painful to watch.
as i posted at the start, this will be a failure. rail can never overcome road except in dense geography. and even that is always a battle. commuter rail is way too expensive. unfortunately
we have politics pandering to the low information voters. imagine what would happen if folk had to pay the true cost of mass transit.
anyways. this is a fiscal disaster supported by taxpayers.

i would support making it free.no charge. give those who want to suffer this some offset. ken patrick[/quote]

Calm down, bud.

KEN PATRICK » Tue Jun 24, 2014 3:41 pm
....this is a fiscal disaster supported by taxpayers.

Who but we taxpayers pay for all means of transportation, not just rail?
Whether through direct tax-funded subsidies or as costs of doing business, costs of transportation get passed to consumers, and consumers pay taxes, whether directly or through pass-alongs.
I have some knowledge of The Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and while "Certified Public Accountant" exists as an entry, I have been unable to locate an entry for "Contrarian (Seemingly Compulsive)."

KEN PATRICK wrote:this getting painful to watch.
as i posted at the start, this will be a failure. rail can never overcome road except in dense geography. and even that is always a battle. commuter rail is way too expensive. unfortunately
we have politics pandering to the low information voters. imagine what would happen if folk had to pay the true cost of mass transit.
anyways. this is a fiscal disaster supported by taxpayers.

i would support making it free.no charge. give those who want to suffer this some offset. ken patrick

As long as the discussion is around cost in isolation, as opposed to factoring in the cost of accommodating alternative modes such as building another bridge then yes, it's going to look bad. Perhaps CCRTA could offer some sort of inducement to drivers of backed up vehicles approaching the existing bridges to tell them what they would have to do in terms of scheduling, pricing or other variables (for those that can be persuaded) to move to rail.

That said, not having that platform complete for the opening of the season was a miss. They needed to hit the ground running this year to keep the good news stories flowing even when the ridership wasn't yet.

Please do not feed into KEN PATRICK. He is looking to argue and make the topic become financial/ State Politics based. This is a RAILFAN board to talk about trains. Yes we can talk about funding and proposals, but that's not the focus here.

sery2831 wrote:Please do not feed into KEN PATRICK. He is looking to argue and make the topic become financial/ State Politics based. This is a RAILFAN board to talk about trains. Yes we can talk about funding and proposals, but that's not the focus here.

He is off base, but I think we should let him spout his position. But he had better be prepared to be seriously countered.

KEN PATRICK wrote:this getting painful to watch.
as i posted at the start, this will be a failure. rail can never overcome road except in dense geography. and even that is always a battle. commuter rail is way too expensive. unfortunately
we have politics pandering to the low information voters. imagine what would happen if folk had to pay the true cost of mass transit.
anyways. this is a fiscal disaster supported by taxpayers.

i would support making it free.no charge. give those who want to suffer this some offset. ken patrick

A financial disaster? It's the only service offered by the T that more than covers its expenses. It's one thing to not like rail service, but it's another thing to make up "facts" to fit your agenda.

"No bucks, no Buck Rogers".

Clean Cab wrote:

sery2831 wrote:Please do not feed into KEN PATRICK. He is looking to argue and make the topic become financial/ State Politics based. This is a RAILFAN board to talk about trains. Yes we can talk about funding and proposals, but that's not the focus here.

He is off base, but I think we should let him spout his position. But he had better be prepared to be seriously countered.

There's no point in countering him, he never responds to reasoned replies.